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Story URL: http://www.silicon.com/retailandleisure/0,3800011842,39163093,00.htm

Embedded chips not getting under shoppers' skin
Mind where you stick that reader

By Tim Ferguson

Published: Tuesday 10 October 2006

Most people still think paying for their shopping with a chip embedded under their skin is a step too far.

According to Institute of Grocery Distribution research only one in 10 teenagers would be interested, while one in 20 adults would also be open to the idea.

There was significantly greater interest in other biometric payment methods - such as iris recognition and fingerprinting - with 20 per cent of teenagers and 17 per cent of adults saying they would like to use these.

But Kevin Warwick, professor of cybernetics at the University of Reading said the idea of chips embedded under the skin still has "enormous potential".

He said one of the main benefits would be security as there would be little possibility of losing your method of payment - unlike with credit cards.

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Warwick said he could see the tech taking off in the retail environment if shops offered discounts to people, much like loyalty cards, or if embedded microchips became a fashion item.

But in contrast, Simon Davies, director of civil liberties group Privacy International, said: "The idea of a chip in the skin to purchase goods is laughable."

Davies said the technology would be a "hostile intrusion into human autonomy".

He also pointed out that reading devices for these kinds of chips are "notoriously prone to failure" and that - with the risk of having a chip implanted - people would find this unacceptable.